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Episode 18 – Working from Home

Before I made the glorious move to my current job as a rockin’ software tester, I was in glorified data entry. Despite the mediocre bucks, the hours were good because my supervisor didn’t care what time I came in if I worked all my hours and because I could occasionally work from home. I was even going to work out a schedule where I would only work nine days in a pay period. Back then, to keep some sanity and humor in the group despite the mundane aspect of work, we (mostly me) came up with quirky little traditions: an inspirational poster of the day, weekly quotes from our group, a “Bill of Rights,” and a weekly newsletter we called “Millennial Times.” Below is the last article that I wrote for it. Why don’t I have such things to help me through my weeks in my current job? Because everybody works too much. (However, we don’t overwork ourselves like those nervous folks on the east coast. Phew.) Here’s my article for your reading pleasure (with a few minor changes so it ALMOST makes sense to the average public who is not in my quirky IT department):

We’ve all had those days when the alarm goes off and you just can’t master your mind over mattress ability. For some of us, it’s because every muscle in your back decided that today would be the day to go into constant spasms. After a quick phone call to the boss, permission has been granted to work from home. Here’s what REALLY happens on those days:

You log on earlier than you ever do when you actually drive to work because, A, you don’t have to shower or even brush your hair and, two, because your laptop doesn’t care if your pajamas match your makeup.

You spend most of the day copying your supervisor on every single email just so she knows that you’re legit and you really are making all your glorified data entry changes.

You turn on Judge Judy and manage to survive another day writing semi-code (Discern Rules) without going over-the-top crazy—nobody is ruling out going slightly crazy, though.

You take your trusty laptop with you to the bathroom, to the kitchen table, to the bathtub, etc and take zero breaks because you really were working and pooping at the same time.

You actually get things accomplished because you don’t have people throwing random comments over the top of cubicle walls, you’re not annoyed by the person down the row who refuses to use headphones to listen to music, you’re not bothered by the smell of some coworkers after they leave your cube, and you don’t have to go to meetings.